Angelina Jolie was announced as the new face of Tom Ford’s ‘Runway Lip Colour’ campaign back in August (2024). Photographer duo Mert Alas and Marcus Pigott captured the actor, humanitarian and entrepreneur wearing shade ‘16 Scarlet Rouge’ and smoked black eyeliner.
Today (12 November 2024), the brand – which recently appointed Haider Ackermann as its new creative director – has released the accompanying campaign video, also by Mert + Marcus, in which Jolie pays ‘cinematic homage to feminine beauty and its power’. Here, she plays a version of herself studying for a role behind the scenes of a movie set, rehearsing lines on a script and getting into character with hair and make-up.
Watch: Angelina Jolie in Tom Ford’s cinematic new beauty campaign film
Set to the dreamy 1965 hit ‘Strange Effect’, written by The Kinks’ Ray Davis and performed by Dave Berry, the film also nods to this era with the flickering sound of a rolling 16mm film camera playing simultaneously. (There are echoes of brand founder Tom Ford’s work as a director, too, which includes A Single Man starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore and neo-noir Nocturnal Animals, with Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal).
Playful, up-close shots of the Academy Award winner smiling and laughing meet with moments where she’s immersed in her work, placing a red-manicured finger into her mouth in concentration, or slinging a sharp cream blazer over a black bralette whilst stage lights glare and footage projects on the wall behind her.
Tom Ford Beauty describes the campaign film as ‘a portrait of a woman who makes everything in her gaze her own, drawing confidence from the power of her signature [lipstick] shade.’ The entire ‘Runway Lip Colour’ collection of 18 creamy and hydrating shades (ten existing and eight new) marks a refresh of the signature ‘Private Blend’ lipsticks, which debuted in 2010.
As Guillaume Jesel, the brand’s president and chief executive officer, told WWD in August: ‘The connection to film and the cinematic aspect of the visual imagery that he created for this brand set it aside from anyone else and has been integral to our DNA ... Lip is the ultimate fashion accessory, it’s a carrier of the brand DNA, and it is at the core of the brand identity.’
